


A Twist of Fate

by EnbyStiles



Category: Fear the Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Banishment, Feelings Realization, First Kiss, Introspection, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-24
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-09-25 02:03:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20368825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnbyStiles/pseuds/EnbyStiles
Summary: What if Nick was banished alongside Troy after the shoot out at the Otto homestead?





	A Twist of Fate

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KnownAsEmrys](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KnownAsEmrys/gifts).

> This fic is for Emrys

Nick isn’t sure why he stayed with Troy when he started to lose it. He isn’t sure why he tries to save him. Why he does everything he can to make the other boy give up the fight he’s gotten himself into with the natives.

He understands why Troy is doing this. He does. These people are taking his home away from him. The land may rightfully belong to them, but to Troy, it’s his home and his land and he has every right to protect it. It’s part of who he is and he’s already lost his dad and to some extent his brother, so this place is all he really has left.

A small part of Nick regrets it when he tells Troy the truth about his father. He feels sick every time he thinks about shooting Jeremiah. He wanted to save his mom from the burden. And god he wishes things had gone down differently. But Jeremiah would have let them all die and this place burn before he gave it up. Nick really was just trying to save them all.

Maybe he just made things worse.

The blank stare he gets from Troy as they’re pulled from the house by Walker’s men has a tumultuous storm of emotions swirling inside of him. Empathy, regret, anger, longing to do… something. Anything really to bring life back to those eyes.

They get separated after that. Troy taken one way and Nick taken another. Neither of them fights it. They’re too tired. Troy in more ways than one. As for Nick, he just wants this all to stop. The fighting and death and anger. It just repeats over and over.

After a blur of movement and shouting, he finds himself in one of the barracks with his mom and Walker. They’re arguing. Jake shows up a few moments later and joins in. Nick listens but says nothing. He doesn’t think there’s much he can say that will help his situation.

Walker wants them both banished. Madison is against it, at least in Nick’s case, and Jake looks torn but hasn’t sided with either of them yet.

“If we banish one and not the other what kind of message does that send to the community? They should both be banished for what they did,” Walker says resolutely as he looks at Nick in a way that sends a shiver down Nick’s spine.

“Nick stopped Troy! He’s the reason more people aren’t dead right now!” Madison argues back. She’s actually red in the face from shouting at this point. Nick isn’t sure how he feels about how she’s handling this. He just knows that this isn’t going to end well for anyone.

“I agree with Walker,” Jake finally pipes in, arms crossing over his chest as he stands up straight and squares his shoulders. He looks certain of his decision, and the anger on Madison's face becomes all the more obvious for it. “Troy’s gone too far off the deep end. And both members of the militia and the nation saw Nick fighting alongside him. He may have stopped Troy in the end, but he also was a willing participant in what happened just now. He should get the same punishment as my brother. We’ll give them each a backpack with some supplies and drive them out to someplace remote before leaving them.”

Madisons jaw goes slack in disbelief for a moment before the anger returns full force. “You can’t be serious, Jake! Nick doesn’t deserve-”

“Mom, just let it go… I’ll be alright, you know I will be...” Nick finds himself saying with a tired sigh. He can think of worse things in the world than being banished with Troy Otto as his only company.

“What, Nick, no-”

“It’s decided then. We leave in an hour,” Walker says before walking past the lot of them and heading out the door to talk to his people.

“I’ll go speak to Troy,” Jake says as he follows suit and heads for the door. “Madison, I suggest you go pack a bag for Nick, I don’t imagine Taqa will be so generous with what supplies he gives if he’s left to pack their bags himself.”

Nick watches as Madison glares at the space previously occupied in the doorway by Jake before she turns back to him with all the rage he expects from her at this point. “What the hell are you playing at, Nick! Do you want to get yourself killed!?!? You can’t seriously be going off with that madman after everything that’s happened!”

“You know I’m suicide proof, mom,” Nick can’t help but joke despite the fury he knows it causes in his mother. “Look, I’m not going to make excuses or try to bullshit my way out of this. So what if I get kicked out, it’s alright, you and Alicia will be fine here.”

“And what about you? Do you honestly think you’ll be alright out there? With him?” Her tone is accusatory as she says the last two words, and Nick feels a sudden urge to get in her face and argue that he’s safer with Troy than he is with her any day.

He doesn’t, though. He just looks her in the eye and shifts forward in the seat he was thrown into when they entered the barracks. “I’ll be alright, mom.”

Madison scoffs before turning and storming out of the barracks, door slamming behind her hard enough to rattle the panes of glass in the windows on either side.

~~~~~

Nick is left alone for about an hour after that, two armed guards outside the door. One a member of the militia and one a member of the nation. Neither of them looks like they want to be there, though they do start up a conversation that Nick doesn’t pay attention to maybe half an hour into his wait.

It’s Jake and Alicia that come to get him, along with Coop and two of Walker’s men. 

Alica nearly crushes him when she hugs him, and Nick lets himself hug her back just as tightly. It’s probably his last chance to hug his sister, and he isn’t going to hold back.

To his credit, Jake honestly looks regretful when he claps a hand on Nick’s shoulder as he and Alicia separate. “We bagged up enough supplies to get you and Troy through about a week if you’re careful. That should be more than enough to hold you over while you find someplace safe to go.”

Nick wants to roll his eyes and tell Jake no place is safe, but he holds back. Instead settling for nodding his understanding and letting himself be tied up like a pig for the slaughter and brought out to wait in the bed of a pickup truck until they bring Troy out in a similar fashion a little while later.

Neither of them says anything as Troy is loaded into the truck beside Nick. Though Troy complains when they go to put bags over both their heads. Nick just shoves him with an elbow to shut him up before Walker’s men can do worse.

They ride in silence, the truck turning a few times and apparently going from dirt to pavement a few times from the sounds of the tires.

“Good luck,” The guy that drops them off says as he yanks them from the back of the truck and tosses a knife on the ground nearby before he hops back into the bed of the truck and smacks the roof to signal they can leave.

It’s maybe mid-day. Sun high above as Nick looks from the knife sticking out of the dirt nearby to where Troy stands beside him. He honest to go expects the other man to grab the knife and end him. He wouldn’t blame him for it.

But instead Troy lets out a tired sigh and slowly walks over to where the knife rests before grabbing it and cutting the ropes around his own wrist and holding it out handle first for Nick to take. That hollowed out tired expression still overtaking his face.

“Seriously?” Nick says as he slowly reaches out to take the knife from a bandaged hand. 

“You wanna spend the rest of your life tied up, be my guest,” Troy says far too lightly even as he watches Nick take the knife and struggle to cut himself free.

“No, but I mean, I expected you to stab me. Or hit me. Something. Not you just handing over your one weapon to me after what I did,” Nick starts to ramble. He can’t help it. He doesn’t understand why Troy is acting so… Unlike himself.

With another sigh, Troy reaches out and takes the knife from Nick before grabbing him by the wrist and holding him still as he starts to cut through the heavily knotted ropes. “The way I see it, you had no choice. Just like I had no choice in letting those natives move onto our land after what you did. But we can’t change any of it and we're stuck out here together so we might as well get along,”

“Alright, but you know I would understand if you wanted me dead. Or even just wanted to punch me around. I deserve it,” Nick mumbles as he watches Troy cut away his ropes and continue to hold his wrist once they're gone. 

“You feeling guilty there, Nicky?” Troy’s tone is back to that teasing way he would speak to Nick when they bickered or insulted each other. It causes something in Nick’s chest had hadn’t realized was aching to hurt all the less.

“If I say yes would you believe me?”

Troy studies him for a long minute before stepping away. One hand tucking the knife into his belt while the other pics up one of the backpacks. “It’s too hot to stay out in the sun like this. We gotta move,” is all he says before starting to walk in no particular direction as far as Nick can tell.

Hours later Nick nearly shouts for joy when they reach what appears to be an outpost of some kind. Troy looks anything but excited, which Nick takes to mean that Troy knows where they are and that there likely isn’t anything of use there.

There’s a however truck hidden under a tarp and a bunch of junk. Troy uncovered it while Nick was trying to find something to burn so they can cook the snake that Troy killed on their way there.

When Nick sees Troy fiddling with the engine he gets a flash of panic. “Troy, whatever you’re thinking, we can’t go back.”

That earns him a snort in response as Troy slams the hood closed. “Why not?”

“Think of our families! Your brother, my mom and sister? They’re safe as long as we stay gone. If we go back it’ll cause a riot,” Nick argues. He doesn’t know if he can take Troy in a fight if it comes down to it but he isn’t going to let Troy do something stupid right now.

“You honest to god think they’re fine without us there? They threw us out! I’d rather see that place destroyed than taken over by those bastards!” Troy spits, all the anger Nick had been expected to be aimed at him before finally coming to the surface, though not how he had expected it to.

“You can’t be serious! Troy, its the end of the world! We can literally go anywhere we want! We’re free! You want land? Go find your own someplace else and quit jerking off about how tragic it is that you were thrown out of your home!” Nick finds himself spitting back as he gets in Troy’s face.

Troy actually looks taken aback for a split second before he’s pushing back into Nick’s personal space. So much so that Nick ends up backing into the wall of the hanger like garage they’re currently in. Troy steps in so close that their chests are touching before a fist comes up and hits the wall beside Nick’s head, causing him to flinch.

Nick isn’t sure what possesses him, but suddenly he’s grabbing Troy’s face and crashing their lips together in a kiss that makes Troy gasp. Before he can regret it Troy is backing away and bringing a hand up to touch his lips with a look of utter confusion on his face. “What the hell? Why’d you do that?” the words come out harsh, sending a shiver down Nick’s spine that has him backing up against the wall again and readying himself for a beating.

One doesn’t come. Instead, Troy just stares at him, waiting for an answer.

Nick wants to give one, he does, but he isn’t sure he can bring himself to say what came into his mind when Troy asked just now. So he turns away and starts to walk quickly towards the door that will get him the hell out of there.

There’s a hand on his shoulder pulling him back that he tries to yank free of but can't. “Let go of me!”

“Just tell me why you did it!” Troy shouts as he manages to grab Nick and spin him around so they stand face to face.

“Because I’m in love with you, okay!” he blurts before he can stop himself.

There’s a moment of stunned silence between them as Troy holds both Nick’s shoulders tightly in dirty hands and they stare into each other's eyes. 

A beat later Troy is the one pulling Nick in and bringing their lips together in a rough kiss. They’re both dehydrated, lips chapped as they meet for the second time. It’s awkward and short and Nick finds himself wanting more despite all that.

When they pull away Troy starts to grin and Nick isn’t sure if he likes that.

“I knew you loved me,” he says as he turns and walks back towards the waiting truck. “Get your shit, we’re heading for the ocean.”

Nick stares after him for a long moment, brain struggling to process all that’s just happened in a matter of maybe three short minutes. When it becomes clear that Troy is serious he scrambles to do as told. No way in hell is he staying here when the ocean so much better.

That’s how Nick finds himself riding shotgun in a beat-up old Ford truck headed for the coast with an absolute madman at his side. At some point, Troy reaches out and takes Nick’s hand where it rests in the space between them, and Nick laces their fingers together and squeezes.

They don’t talk about the ranch again after that day. Or what Nick did. They don’t need to. They find their own place far away to call home. One that nobody takes away from them.

**Author's Note:**

> You can follow me on [ Twitter](https://twitter.com/TrickyHannigram) for more fandom related fun!
> 
> Or you can also follow me on [ Twitch](https://www.twitch.tv/enbystiles) for weekly writing and gaming streams.


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